Owls and Odd Birds

Our guide Sam prides himself on his owl prowess.  And on this trip he demonstrated that prowess (and persistence) by finding what for him and Tropical Birding is a record number of owl species for any Ecuador trip: 11.  Some were relatively easy, found in daylight and even photographed from inside the van, like this Peruvian Pygmy Owl.

Peruvian Pygmy-Owl

Less easy to photograph, even in daylight, was this Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl across a river.

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

But some owls required an after-dinner cardiac test up trails through the forest and precarious perching along steep trails listening to recorded owl calls at volumes approaching chain saw.  

And one owl, perhaps the rarest of all owls in Ecuador, required several hours of jogging up and down a dark road as the owl called from various locations, culminating in a plunge into the dark forest on a barely discernable path.  Amazingly, Sam spotted the Buff-fronted Owl not 20 feet away and in open view.

The rare and rarely photographed Buff-fronted Owl (only 198 photos in the Mccaulay Library at Cornell)

One other owl spotting added a unique flavor to birding Ecuador:  a Koepcke’s Screech Owl, normally endemic to only Peru, was roosting in a palm tree growing up in the atrium of a home in a suburban residential neighborhood. The homeowner welcomed birders and although we were able to view the bird from the street, Sam and Jay could not resist the owner’s offer to climb up to the roof for closer views. 

As Sam might say, a rather dodgy ladder and scaffold apparatus led to the Koepcke’s Screech Owl.  I’ll pass. 

Koepcke’s Screech Owl

As I mentioned, my primary interest was in the many and varied hummingbirds of Southern Ecuador, several of which are considered to be among the most beautiful of birds.  But Ecuador, and the neotropics generally, is home to an amazing variety of birds that, like hummingbirds, demonstrate the wonder of evolution.  And some of these are more in the “face only a mother could love” category.  Here’s some that we saw.

Comb Duck – One question for Mother Nature: Why?

Groove-billed Ani – A cuckoo relative with a Jimmy Durante schnoz.

Hoatzin – One of the most primitive-looking birds and the closest thing to Archaeopteryx existing today.

Bearded Guan – An apparently tasty chicken-like bird.

Long-wattled Umbrellabird – With an inflatable wattle that booms an eerie foghorn moan.  

Amazonian Umbrellabird – With a Kookie Burns hairdo.

There are, of course, many spectacular and colorful birds besides hummingbirds.

 

White-necked Parakeet

 

Ecuadorian Trogon

 

Masked Flowerpiercer – note the hook-tipped bill to facilitate, well, flowerpiercing. 

 

 

Next up: more hummingbirds.

All photos © C.S. Wood

(note: you can peruse photos from this trip at Ecuador BirdTrek 2022)